The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
A variety of industries incorporate a follower plate into an apparatus that is configured to evacuate a hot melt adhesive and the like from a drum or other storage container. The follower plate generally includes a surface and a central aperture. The surface of the follower plate forces the melted adhesive to flow through the central aperture into a pump, which moves the adhesive to other fluid handling equipment near the point of its application onto the surface of a substrate.
A conventional follower plate typically has a concave lower surface that provides in effect a chamber that is in fluid communication with the central aperture. One problem with this follower plate design is that a portion of adhesive will remain in the storage container, which results in the generation of waste upon replacement of the “empty” storage container with a fresh or “full” storage container.